Seal was so embarrassed by a song that he threw the tape away. Now, it has been streamed over 655,000,000 times

Seal was so embarrassed by his early demo of ‘Kiss From a Rose’ that he threw the tape aside and initially hid it from producer Trevor Horn. The song later became one of his defining hits, showing how a track he doubted could find a much wider audience with the right encouragement and exposure.

Seal recorded the four-track experiment in 1987, before his breakthrough with Adamski’s ‘Killer’ and his first solo album. Horn kept asking about the song while they worked on Seal’s 1994 second album, which included it; after a weak initial release alongside The NeverEnding Story III, it was revived for Batman Forever in 1995. It went on to top the US Hot 100 and has since been streamed more than 655 million times.